Craftsman Frames

These frames are for mirrors that were pre-cut (hence – they be heavy and they be big!) I designed the frames, used quartersawn White Oak and mortise & tenon joinery. The finish is 36 hours ammonia fume, 2 coats sealer and 1 coat poly. I’m happy with the way they turned out, but were a lot more work than I had planned for. I did the inlay out of Bubinga, Bloodwood, Maple, Walnut and Oak.

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24 comments so far

Very nice, looks good. The inlay is a nice touch. Did you use your multi-router for the M&T joints? I am only familiar with the theory of fuming, haven’t tried it yet. They are not as dark as I expected, would more time under the tarp make it darker?

Thanks Thos and Duane. Duane, I used the Multi Router for the joints, it really makes it easy and clean. More time will make the wood darken, but heat is important. It’s about 65-70 degrees here so this is the color you get in about 36 hours with 33% ammonia. It’s a great process, but really pretty dangerous, make sure there are no kids/pets around if you decide to try it.Schroeder

Thanks all ! – Jude – rumor has it that Stickley was talking to someone at his horse barn and happened to notice the effect that the horse manure was having on the oak sideboards in the stall. The ammonia in the horse manure was reacting with the tannic acid in the wood (especially prevalent in white oak). “Ammonia fuming” became a favored method of finishing. One builds a “fume tent” (some sort of plastic room that your project will fit into) sets in an open dish of ammonia and lets it stand for some length of time. The old builders in my area tell me they used to put down the hardwood floors, all the molding and trim, seal the room and throw in several bowls of ammonia to treat all the woodwork in the room. The resulting color is not like a stain, it has altered the wood and will never fade, can run from golden to nearly black. The downside is that I usually use commercial grade ammonia – 33%. The stuff you buy in the grocery store is about 1.5% -3%, so you can imagine how potent the strong stuff is. Any of my projects that I have done in oak are fumed. Hope that answers your question Jude!